Boys’ Teams at B-CC Do Not Get Preferential Treatment

Recently an opinion piece, “B-CC’s Glass Ceiling”, asserted profound disparities between men’s and women’s sports. The central argument of this piece is that school administration gives men’s sports disproportionate financial assistance and more significant exposure despite their inferior athletic achievements. This heavily flawed argument works to divide B-CC sports teams – rather, we should encourage our athletes to succeed as one community.

Complaints following “B-CC’s Glass Ceiling” favored promotion of men’s sports flies in the face of reality. Rex Garcia, the President of the B-CC Boosters Club, shared that the Boosters “granted free admission to the first 40 students at girls soccer and the Volleyball Senior night.” Furthermore Garcia elaborates that “they promote all the teams equally through the listserv and [school affiliated] social media.” These efforts highlight the commitment school officials have made to promote gender equity in our sports programs.

Other grievances in “B-CC’s Glass Ceiling” include ill-conceived concerns over the allocation of funds for various sports teams. The Boosters Club has an open fund for all teams, and coaches request money from this fund. Money is then doled out in accordance with the need each team has. This has led to entirely reasonable funding differences between teams. As Football Coach Minturn explains, “helmets and shoulder pads are required to be updated frequently for safety purposes.” Therefore it is only natural that they receive more funds. This policy stems not from gender bias but rather from varying needs between sports. Girl’s Field Hockey coach Colby Wright clarifies that they “have never been denied any requests from the Boosters” for this exact reason.

To assert, as “B-CC’s Glass Ceiling” does, that funding should be given out based on team performance encourages inequity, the very thing it purports to oppose. With every athlete at B-CC putting in hard work, their respective team’s performance should never impact the funding or support they receive. Mr. Krawczel, the Athletic Director, highlights that, “if you are a great team, you should get what you need and want; however, if you’re a struggling team you should also be able to get what you need and want.”

Another inequity “B-CC’s Glass Ceiling” alleges is that football is given coveted practice time slots. B-CC’s Varsity Quarterback, Carson Griffey, clarifies that “most days we practice on the baseball field until the turf opens up.” Being on the baseball field when B-CC has a new turf field is a sacrifice made by football to ensure other teams are able to practice after school. Rather than approaching this with hostility, football’s willingness to sacrifice playing on the turf is applaudable. This is the type of attitude that all sports teams need to have towards each other.

Creating unnecessary divisions between teams sets all athletes up for failure. As a whole, the B-CC athletics program is one team. Female athlete, male athlete, or no athlete at all, show out for a game you normally would not have attended, and next time you see a B-CC Coach, Mr. Krawczel, or any member of the B-CC Boosters Club, make sure to say thank you. Without the hard work and dedication of our community, we would not be able to have such a remarkable athletics program where every athlete is set up for success.